The two groups are in a deadlock for who will land the job after the committee rated them with tied scores of 990 out of 1,100 possible points.

After the interviews the committee will seek to vote again on Thursday (May 22) afternoon and hopefully break the tie, said Andy Kopplin, New Orleans chief administrative officer and chairman of the committee.

"There is no more important project for the city in the next few years than this one," Kopplin said to open the meeting at 1 p.m.

On an 11-member committee, he said, it was improbable to end up with a tied score.

But, he said, "We're going to try to come up with a way to break this tie."